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THE EASTSIDER - After reading Julia Wick’s September 4 article in the LA Times touting how wonderful Angeles Gonzales Torres is, I was left wondering whether the Angela she was talking about was someone other than the Angela I knew back in 2024. Remember 2024 isn’t all that long ago, here’s an excerpt from the article, which you can find on Citywatchla.com.
‘For whatever reason, President Angela Gonzales Torres bypassed the regular order of things and leaped into whether or not to take “DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE MOTION for items 15, 16, and 17 first. However, DONE’s staffer John Darnell notified that Item 15, the motion to try and get a reversal of a final criminal case involving Antonio Chavez and Jose Beltran, was beyond the jurisdiction of a Neighborhood Council. Duh.
Then President Angela Gonzales Torres asked the Board to vote to in effect bypass the regular order and decide whether or not to take up Item 17, DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE MOTION, Motion to approve Request for Action in support of an LA City Council Ceasefire Resolution.
The Chair immediately bypassed all the regular items on the Agenda, including voting on next year’s Neighborhood Council Budget. This without a motion or asking any of the Board members to speak.
And Then...
Basically, it all went to hell. We were way beyond the functioning of a Neighborhood Council, and spent the rest of the time (the venue closes at 8:30) having a loud vocal number of attendees talk about how they felt about a Ceasefire Resolution to be sent off to Israel and Hamas to impose a Ceasefire in the war.
I won’t go into the discussion in any detail, since the Neighborhood Council ran out of time as most speakers were having a great time weighing in for or against asking the LA City Council to vote on a ‘City Council Ceasefire Resolution.” In fact, it was about the only ‘business’ the President allowed, to the detriment of the Highland Park community.
What did happen is that 8:30 came around, the Senior Center staff said they had to close the facility, even as almost no regular business enumerated in the Agenda ever took place.
For the curious, a large majority of the speakers seemed to be in favor of the Motion. It did not appear that most of these people were regular attendees of the NC.
Oops!
Lost in the midst of this glorious political discussion, the Chair neglected to ever go back and start/complete the regular order of business in the Agenda.
There might have been a Call to Order and Roll Call taken, but I don’t remember a Motion to Approve the Agenda (Item 3), and after that, there was only one Item that took place; that was Item 4(b), a report from the LAPD, whose officers had to stick around until the very end to share their information.
What did not happen was a Treasurer Report, or Item 9, a Motion and discussion over approving the 2024-2025 Budget for the HHPNC.
So, if my recollection is correct, there is no 24/25 Budget approved, and the Council has no money. Right on.
The Takeaway
Assuming that the Angela I knew is the same person as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, acting as President of the NC, there were quite a number of people at the Neighborhood Council Meeting, so it shouldn’t be too hard to verify my recollection of the meeting.
I think that before buying into the LA Times version, folks might want to do a little more research into the candidate and make up their own mind as they go to vote.
(Tony Butka is a veteran Eastside community activist with decades of experience in Los Angeles civic life. He has served on a neighborhood council and worked extensively within local government, bringing deep knowledge of policy, budgeting, and urban planning to his advocacy. As a regular contributor to CityWatchLA, Butka offers sharp commentary on city politics, development, and grassroots issues. His writing reflects a commitment to transparency, accountability, and amplifying the voices of historically underserved communities.)
